John ware welkins



(No Modal.

J. W. WILKINS; SAFETY ENVELUPFASTENER.

No. 581,220. Patented Apr. 20, 1897.

INVEN TOR A TTORMERS norms vzfir'aa' do. wuomumm. wmmnamm o c.

UNITE TATES JOHN WARE VILKINS, .OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO SARAH F. WILSON, OF SAME PLACE.

SAFET Y-ENVELOP FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 581 ,220, dated April20, 1897.

Application filed April 28, 1896.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known'that 1, JOHN WARE WILKINs,

' a citizen of the United States, and aresident of New York, county ofNew York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Safety-Envelop Fasteners, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part thereof, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts.

This invention relates to an improved fastener for envelops, and has forits object to provide a device which when applied to any ordinaryenvelop will render it impossible to open the same without tearing.

The device will also make the envelop distinctive in appearance, and maybe made to advertise to some extent the business of the sender.

It may be very cheaply manufactured and is easily applied.

In the drawings herewith, forming part of this specification, Figure 1is a perspective view of the two portions comprising the device. Fig. 2is a similar view showing the inner portion applied. Fig. 3 is a similarview showing the two portions in approximately relative position to eachother, and Fig. 4 is a view showing the envelop completely fastened bymeans of the device.

In the practice of my invention there is provided a thin disk A, ofnickel, aluminium, or other light metal, having in the center thereof anX-shaped slot a, formed by diagonal incisions crossing each other andthe points released, a and a being pressed upwardlyuntil their positionis nearly Vertical to the horizontal surface of the disk A. There isalso provided a disk B, of somewhat smaller diameter, made of metalsimilar to that composing disk A, and having on its circular edge aplurality of projecting angular tongues Z) integrally formed therewith.The said tongues I) having been so formed are all bent in the samedirection toward the center of the disk B until they reach aninclination of about thirty-five degrees to the horizontal surface ofthe disk B. The disk A is now placed within the envelop, as shown inFig. 2, with Serial No. 689,364. (No model.)

the tongues a and a projecting upwardly,and forced through the materialcomposing the flaps C and D, each tongue passing through both of saidflaps. The top flap E is then folded over and the tongues a, and a areforced through it also. The disk B is now placed in position with itscenter coinciding with that of disk A and with its depending tongues I)pointed downwardly. It is then pressed firmly toward the disk A, whenthe points of the tongues b will be forced through all of thethicknesses comprising the four flaps of the envelop and against theupper surface of the disk A, whereby said tongues 19 will immediately beclenched or flattened against the upper surface of disk A and holdbetween it and the flattened tongues b the ends of flaps E, O, D, and Fof the envelop. Simultaneously with this action the tongues a and (1meeting the under surface of the downwardly-forced disk 13, will in thesame'manner be bent or flattened against disk A, holding flaps E, O, andD.

It is obvious that the scope of my invention will permit the device tohave any shape other than circular and the tongues to be angular orotherwise, as may be desired. The disk A may also be provided with anadditional tongue (i as shown in Fig. 2, so that the lower flap F may beheld by the tongues in both the inner and outer disks or fasteners.

There is no special device prescribed for forcing the disk B down uponthe disk A. It may be done with any implement having a hard flatsurface, or, if preferred, a seal such as used by notaries may be used,impressing upon the outer surface of disk B the name of sender, hisbusiness, &c.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by means of Letters Patent, is-

An envelop-fastener consisting of an upper plate B and lower plate A,the lower member having at its central portion upwardly-projectingtongues or, a produced integrally therewith and having an inward angleof inclination, and the upper member B, of smaller diameter than disk A,having produced inte rally therewith on its edge a plurality ofdownwardly projecting tongues b, said tongues being bent inwardly at anangle of In testimony that I claim the foregoing as about thirty-fivedegrees, said tongues a, a myinvention I have signed my name in presandZ) being adapted to pass through all the enee of two witnesses.

flaps of an envelop as E, O, D and F and seal JOHN WARE WILKINS. 5 thesame when pressed against the opposing Vitnesses:

disks A and B, respectively, substantially as M. MACLEAN,

shown and described. 15. M. OAKES.

